text: Mao began her academic career in 1995 by joining Wayne State University as an assistant professor, promoted to full professor, and served until 2020. Since 2020, she has been serving as a professor at the school of chemical engineering at the University of New South Wales.
  Mao served as the director of the material science graduate program at Wayne State University from 2011 to 2015 and as the chair of the chemical engineering and material science department at Wayne State University from 2015 to 2020. Since 2020, she has held the position of the head of the school of chemical engineering at the University of New South Wales.
  Mao has been the chief investigator of the ARC Research Hub for Connected Sensors for Health and the ARC Research Hub for Resilient Intelligent Infrastructure Systems, and as of 2023, she has also been serving as the chief investigator of the ARC Centre of Excellence for Carbon Science and Innovation.